Jason Torres' Grand Slam Electrifies Alabama to College World Series

The Alabama third baseman writ his name in crimson flame during Game 2 against St. John's, and an overnight lightning delay followed his thunderous hit.

Alabama Baseball Third Baseman Jason Torres After Hitting Grand Slam against St. John's in Tuscaloosa Super Regional | Obtained from Alabama Baseball's X/Twitter

The postseason is built on players stepping up when it matters most, and Alabama third baseman Jason Torres writ his name in crimson flame on Sunday evening.

The Crimson Tide beat St. John's 7-2 in Game 2 of the Tuscaloosa Super Regional — propelling UA to its first College World Series appearance since 1999. But the game ended on Monday, as after a nearly 5-hour lightning delay, the contest was postponed.

Up 3-2 in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and two outs, Torres hit a grand slam over the wall to the Right Field Ragers to make the score 7-2 — a much more difficult margin for St. John's, whose season ended after the game finished.

"What an unbelievable swing in the best spot," Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn said during the postgame press conference. "I looked at Mo right before the homer yesterday and said, 'Of everybody on the team, this dude deserves this right here. He deserves that moment.' met it and it was awesome. He hit a huge homer."

Torres also walked through his grand slam.

"I mean, honestly, I was just trying to put the ball in play because they day before I was kind of getting blown away by 90 miles per hour, Torres said. "I was just trying to put a fastball in play and I did. It was fun."

A human can't be blamed for a lightning storm, but it is quite a coincidence that the weather delay started less than an inning after his grand slam. No matter how many times you see it, thunder and lightning catch people by surprise and that's what Torres did to the fans at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

Torres came into Sunday having a relatively subpar season. He was seventh on the team in batting average (.236), OPS (.759), runs (30), SLUG percentage (.399) and on-base percentage (.360), sixth in home runs (8), tied for fifth in doubles (8) and was second in strikeouts (60). Vaughn said a few weeks ago that Torres' dominant performance against Ole Miss was his "senior moment," but that phrase might've been better used for Sunday.

"Man, I love this place," Torres said. "I'm not even joking, everybody that has to with this team winning — the teachers, the academic advisors, our coaches, our players, our nutritionists — everybody at this university is the best thing ever. It's everything I could've asked for. I love this place with everything I got."

Moments that put fans in a frenzy occur all the time across Alabama athletics. But there's only been a few times where there was a pure crowd POP.

These are the loudest moments. The ones that give you chills. Most of these moments happen on Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium — Terrence Cody's Rocky Block in 2009, Trevon Diggs' 100-yard scoop-and-score in 2019, and more recently, Ryan Coleman-Williams game-winning 75-yard catch in 2024 and Zabien Brown's 99-yard pick-six in 2025.

Alabama hasn't had too many crowd pops at Sewell-Thomas Stadium compared to Bryant-Denny Stadium, and of course, BDS holding roughly 95,000 more spectators plays a role in that. But while the Crimson Tide won Game 1 of the Tuscaloosa Super Regional 8-0 on Saturday night in front of a record crowd, Torres' grand slam in Game 2 had a pop as if it were the shot heard 'round the world.

"It's the story of a kid that came two years ago," Vaughn said. "I met JT for the first time when he showed up for classes, and I still remember to this day him walking to center field meeting him in the indoor [facility] and we brought him in.

"It's one of those things we talk about in that being your best when your best is needed. That's what it was. It was a moment this place will remember forever. This guy will bring his kids back here one day and we will all be talking about that swing. There's not a more deserving kid."

Nevertheless, while it'll be tough to top this one, Torres now has more opportunities to create an even wilder moment that Alabama fans will never forget at the College World Series in Omaha.

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